May 1857. Mutinous soldiers from Meerut cantonment march into Delhi. The soldiers proclaimed allegiance to Bahadur Shah Zafar - the last Mughal sovereign - and pleaded him to provide leadership in the quest to end British Raj (1/15)
The old monarch, who was a king practically only in name, did not show much enthusiasm. However, several of the royal princes reacted with vigor and soon, embers of the rebellion spread across the subcontinent (2/15)
Fast forward to August. The East India Company, initially taken aback at the swiftness of the revolt, was now trying to reclaim power. English forces were camped outside Delhi near the ridge (present day North Campus, DU) (3/15)
The walls of the Fort were strong barriers to an enemy raid. The Company forces were looking for an opportunity. Inside the Fort, they had a resource by the name of Gauri Shankar. This man came up with an ingenious plan (4/15)
He wrote to his masters that on 2nd August, Eid-al-Adha, if a cow was slaughtered in public, it would lead to tremendous unrest and riots between Hindu and Muslim communities which would provide the Company forces with the diversion they needed (5/15)
Arrangements were thus made through Gauri Shankar. The latter possibly bribed a few Muslim men to carry out this nefarious plan. The idea was to do it in early dawn so that the gruesome sight started the day (6/15)
Up at the ridge, the Company forces waited in eagerness for the signs of trouble breaking out inside the walled city. However, time passed by and all seemed peaceful. Well past mid-day, a message came from Gauri Shankar (7/15)
His brilliant plan had just been rendered null and void. Possibly anticipating something like this, Zafar had ordered the city Kotwal to round up all cows in the city and move them to a protected shelter (8/15)
On coming to know that there wasn't a big enough shelter to accommodate the city's bovine population, Zafar issued a 'firman' banning animal sacrifice that year on Eid (9/15)
Zafar, also penned a few lines marking this special day. They go:
Lashkar : Ahd-e-Ilahi aaj sara qatl ho,
Gorkhe gore se ta gujjar ansari qatl ho,
Aaj ka din Id-e-qurban tab hi janenge hum,
Ai zafar tahe tegh jab qatil tumhara qatl ho (10/15)
Lashkar : Ahd-e-Ilahi aaj sara qatl ho,
Gorkhe gore se ta gujjar ansari qatl ho,
Aaj ka din Id-e-qurban tab hi janenge hum,
Ai zafar tahe tegh jab qatil tumhara qatl ho (10/15)
Excerpts of letter by English officers and soldiers reveal their despondency when their well planned move failed (11/15)
“....instead of fighting amongst themselves they all joined together to make a vigorous attack to destroy us and utterly sweep us from the face of the earth.” - wrote Keith Young, a young officer to his wife (12/15)
“The Jama Masjid rang with the prayers of the faithful; and Brahman priests stimulated the fanaticism of the followers of Vishnu.” - noted Forrest, another officer (13/15)
Unity and respect for each other's religion saved the day for Delhi on that Eid 164 years ago (14/15)
Acknowledgement: Heritage Times article: "Eid-ul-Adha of 1857 : Bahadur Shah Zafar banned the sacrifice" (15/15)
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